Exiting Burning Man turns into 9-hour ordeal as cars break down in arid desert heat

Burning Man attendees trying to leave this year’s event were confronted with hours of grueling traffic — with some cars breaking down on the road — as sweltering heat reached over 100 degrees.

Twitter account Burning Man Traffic, which is responsible for updating the “burners” on traffic delays as they departed from the festival ending on Monday, Sept. 5, said “we know everyone is anxious to exit the Playa. We don’t blame you. But please remember that you’re exiting right into a small town.”

There was a nearly 9 hour wait to leave the festival around 8:45 a.m. on Monday, according to Burning Man Traffic, and at 11 p.m. it remained a 9-hour delay.

Burning Man Project also took to Twitter around midnight on Tuesday, urging attendees to “wait to leave.”

“If you are on Gate Road, turn off your vehicle to conserve gas, and be patient,” it said. “Teams are working to keep the roads safe and get everyone home safely.”

The festival, which took place in the Black Rock Desert beginning Aug. 28, saw 80,000 in attendance, according to the New York Post. It was the first Burning Man festival in three years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the wait time was up to 10 hours, some festivalgoers reported waiting as long as 13.

One Twitter user said: “when we left at 8:38 p.m. last night, the estimate was 6 hours, but half of our group took 10 hours and the other half of our group took 12 hours to get to the gate. Definitely would love some improvement on the exit system + estimates + communication…”

A Reddit user talked about their exhausting journey out of the playa saying, “ We left around 2 p.m. Sunday - it was 9 hours to the pavement for us.”

Another fed-up Reddit user said “this would be their final burn”.

“Left camp at 9:30 PM and hit pavement at 10:30 AM. After 5 burns I think this was the final straw and burn for me. I love the burn, I love contributing, meeting old friends and new, but this organization has had 20+ years overall and 2+ pandemic years to find, change, streamline, and continuously improve a system - and exodus was only the most prominent of my criticisms,” they said.

Others even took to their platforms to question the environmental impact Burning Man may have.

“Maybe we just shouldn’t have Burning Man in a climate emergency? Would be interesting for someone who knows stuff to calculate the total carbon footprint of this event,” a user named John Elliot said on Twitter.

Cars began to break down, hindering traffic and requiring assistance from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office to clear the area, according to Burning Man Traffic.

McClatchy News reached out to the sheriff’s office for more information and is awaiting response.

Burning Man Traffic also updated its followers that the closest gas station, The Empire, was out of fuel. A few hours later the station had restocked before shortly running out of gas again.

By 3 a.m. Tuesday morning, the Twitter account reported traffic had fallen to zero minutes with all gates clear.

The Burning Man 2022 survival guide offers ”burners” various locations for recycling, dumping greywater and trash once they’ve reached the paved roads.

The survival guide urges Burning Man festivalgoers to “Secure your load like someone you love is driving behind you, because they are!”

Burning Man — which started in 1986 — says it promotes acceptance, self-reliance and art, relying on its 10 principles, including radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation and immediacy. It takes place in the “temporary metropolis” of Black Rock City.

Black Rock Desert is about 120 miles northeast of Reno.

This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Exiting Burning Man turns into 9-hour ordeal as cars break down in arid desert heat."